San Francisco, Walt Disney Company’s Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has said Georgia’s new strict abortion law would make it “very difficult” for them to keep filming in the state, the media reported.
This comes soon after Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said he would “rethink” the whole investment in Georgia if a recently signed abortion law goes into effect.
Most of the industry uproar is currently focused on Georgia, where a large number of Hollywood movies and TV shows are filmed, courtesy of the highly favourable state tax incentive.
“This comes as the stars of two Netflix shows — Jason Bateman of ‘Ozark’ and Alyssa Milano of ‘Insatiable’ — have said they would stop filming in the state if the law takes effect,” TechCrunch reported late on Wednesday.
Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp had signed the abortion legislation earlier this month.
“The law bans abortion once cardiac activity can be detected — which can be as early as six weeks, before many women even realise they are pregnant.
“The law is due to take effect on 1 January, if it survives court challenges,” the Guardian reported on Thursday.
The industry is now responsible for more than 92,000 jobs in Georgia, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and some 455 productions were shot in Georgia in 2018, according to the state, the report added.
